


Spinel Says

by KaiyaWolf



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:55:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21533335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiyaWolf/pseuds/KaiyaWolf
Summary: SU Au where Spinel stays.
Relationships: Buck Dewey/Jenny Pizza/Sour Cream, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe), Spinel/Steven Universe
Comments: 13
Kudos: 95





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey every one so this is a side thing I hadn't planed to write but just came out. E rating for later chapters. Don't like the Ship don't read.

Spinel bunched up her arm expanded her fist ready to send a devastating blow to Steven but something in the way he looked at her with open arms made her hand deflate. After everything she'd done how could he still do that? As they descended Steven lost Spinel somewhere in the clouds only to find her, when he landed, standing by the edge of the injector looking out at his destroyed town.

"Spinel?" He could tell by the shaking of her shoulders that she was crying. 

"I'm so sorry Steven. I don't even know why I wanted to hurt you so badly anymore. I was just so mad, stupid." He approached her cautiously. 

"It's okay I get it. Just let's fix this together. Than we can figure everything else out later." He held out his hand hoping she'd bridge the gap between them. She turned confirming Steven's suspension that she was crying. 

"Like what to do with me?" There was little to no hate in her voice just fear. 

"No. Look…" she took a stedding breath in before continuing with an obvious forced smile. 

"I'll deactivate the injector and have it self-destruct up in space but me well… I'm done." 

"What do you mean done?" Steven asked getting a little nervous. 

"I don't want to be some big mess you have to clean up." She made her finger turn into the horn and blew. The sudden shift of the injector retracting from the ground caused Steven to lose his footing and fall to his knees. 

"You know Steven you really are better than her. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Okay?" Steven looked up just in time to watch Spinel fall off the edge of the injector. She was going to shatter herself. Steven acted on the thought before his mind had even processed it. He leapt off the injector in a swan dive. She already had fallen good few feet ahead of him but with his gravity manipulation powers he closed the distance quickly. He pulled her into a deep hug once he'd reached her, she tried to fight him.

"Steven please let me go! I don't want to keep going. I don't want to find another friend!"

"I don't care! I'm not letting you do this." He slowed their fall and landed in the crater but never let her go. 

"Just tell me what you want Spinel and I'll do everything I can to make it happen." Spinel went silent, stopped fighting and just cried. She couldn't even think of what she could honestly want. After a bit everyone started showing up. Steven checked if Spinel was okay.

"I'm okay now I promise I won't do anything stupid if ya wanna go see them." He nodded but didn't let her leave his sight as he healed his dad and hugged his friends. That's when the Diamonds showed up. They started to complain about how board they were and he introduced them to Spinel, they decided they wanted to take her with them and started singing about how they had a place for her. Steven watched for some sort of sign that Spinel was into the idea but found none. Oh well it was a though.

Spinel thought about going with the Diamonds but she was so scared they wouldn’t love her the way she needed and wanted. 

“You think you can handle them they’re not exactly easy to get along with?” Steven tried just to get a better judgment on her feelings. Spinel rubbed her arm, the Diamonds seemed super nice and willing to take her in but it just didn’t feel right to her. She had already felt found when Steven guided her out of the garden and saved her from her own shattering attempt. If she was being honest she wanted Steven to be the one to offer her a home. She glanced up at the Diamonds and gave a fake smile, she was good at those. Or so she had always thought. She was just about to start singing and acting like this is what she wanted when a soft hand on her shoulder stopped her. Steven gave her a soft sad smile seeming to know what was going through her mind. He could see it in her fake smile and pain filled eyes, she didn't want to go and he wasn't going to make her. 

“Spinel if you don’t want to go that’s completely fine. Right guys?” Steven looked up at the Diamonds who looked upset and a little disappointed. Blue however, was the first to give a warm smile placing her hand on Yellow and looking up at White causing them both to reluctantly smile.

“Spinel we understand.” Blue said sweetly laying down her hand for Spinel to climb onto which she did. 

“Well.. yes. We do wish you’d come back with us.” White said beforeYellow stopped her from continuing by elbowing her slightly.

“What she means to say is that although we would love to have you come join us we understand if you’d prefer to stay on earth, or whatever it is you want to do.” White rolled her eyes.

“Well what are we going to do now?” White sighed dramatically placing her hand over her forehead. 

“We can figure something out White. I’m sure both Steven and Spinel will happily come visit… often. Right.” Blue offered with a hopeful smile at the both of them. 

“Yeah I can try.” Steven answered.

“I’d love that.” Spinel said jumping to Yellow’s hand. Spinel was set back down next to Steven. The Diamonds said their goodbyes and returned to their ship taking off with a peace sign from Yellow. Spinel attempted to sneak away while Steven was distracted but failed as her arm was caught by him. 

“Guys we’re good here. Mind giving us some time to talk alone?” Steven asked smiling at his family and friends. Before anyone could protest Garnet started to heard them away giving the two gems a thumbs up. After everyone was out of sight Steven changed his grip from her wrist to her hand lightly pulling on it to guide her up the hill towards the lighthouse, occasionally floating them over the broken ground. They sat outside of the house looking at his now destroyed town. Steven didn’t say a word the entire way side from telling Spinel to hold on when he needed to float them. All the silence terrified Spinel to her core, she wished he’d yell or something. But Steven just look out at his town with a tired but peaceful smile. Spinel had, had enough.

“BY THE DIAMONDS STEVEN PLEASE SAY SOMETHING! YELL AT ME, HIT ME, SOMETHING!” She screamed out tears already streaming down her cheeks as she grabbed her pigtails and yanked on them.

“Spinel… I’m not going to yell. I’m not even mad. Not at you at least, pretty disappointed at my mom but that’s getting more normal than I would like. I didn’t bring you up here for any sort of punishment. Are you sorry for doing all of this?” He asked so plainly that it took Spinel aback. She stared out at the wreckage she had caused, guilt and regret causing more tears to fall. She couldn’t find her voice so she nodding to answer his question. 

“Do you plan to help clean up the mess?" Another nod pigtails bouncing with the movement. 

“Hey, look at me.” He placed his hand under her chin to tilt her head his way. He smiled and wiped away her tears. 

“We all make mistakes, my mom made a huge mistake leaving you behind, I made a mistake with acting like all I wanted you for was turning off the injector and apparently carrying the rejuvenator in my pocket, and your mistake was taking out your anger like this. But that’s okay I don’t blame you. People don’t usually think rationally when they’re hurting. Just promise you try that shattering stunt again and the rest we can fix. I’m not mad I swear. Now… how about a smile.” Spinel sniffled and gave a small weak smile. 

“I really am sorry Steven. And I swear I won't try that again.” She couldn’t meet his eyes choosing to look down at her hands. 

“Good.” 

“I should have gone with the Diamonds.” She said so quietly that Steven almost didn’t hear her.

“Why do you say that?” 

“Because I’m just going to be a burden on you now. I doubt little homeworld or the town I destroyed will give me a place to stay.” 

“A burden? So you stay with the gems and me big deal. Pearl and Amethyst may take some time to forgive you but I know Garnet is ready to welcome you with open arms just like I am.” He opened his arms to prove a point. Spinel glanced up making her look very much like a hurt puppy but happily accepted the hug. Steven felt his heart skip seeing her look so cute. She felt him stoke one of her pigtails in a soothing gesture. 

“We feeling better now?” She nodded not letting go from the hug.

“How about we head on in, I’ll show you around, and we can start cleaning everything up.” Reluctantly Spinel uncoiled Steven from their hug, taking the hand Steven offered her. She let out a small squeak when her hand was pulled causing her to fall into another half hug from Steven.

“Hold on tight, I don’t want to climb over the mess again so we’re going to be taking a shortcut.” She listened wrapping her arms around his neck before he jumped off the clift side slowing their decent so they could land on the balcony outside of his greenhouse. 

“Okay so the greenhouse, do you remember this?” She nodded, she hadn’t let go of him despite being safely on the floor but since he didn’t make a move to push her off she figured it was okay. Steven talked about the flowers that he’d planted for both sides of his mom, then about his custom communication hub than started making his way down the stairs letting her switch to holding his hand and then arm once they were in his room. He continued the tour talking all about his things, games, books, movies, souvenirs, and pictures. She stopped letting go of his arm only to pick up the picture of Steven’s dad and mom.

“This is your… Dad. Right? That’s what you called him?” 

“Yep… and um the other one is… my mom when she lived on earth.” He scratched his head nervously.

“Pink really changed a lot. She went as Rose right? She was pretty and she seems so happy with your dad.” Steven noticed her pigtails tilt down as she stared at the picture. He came closer and gently took the photo out of her hand wrapping his arms around her shoulders holding her. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“It’s okay, I suppose her finding happiness here with your dad is a good thing.” He leaned back not breaking the hug but giving her a curious look.

“If she hadn’t I’d still be in the garden, I wouldn’t have met you, I wouldn’t have a chance to get better, and all of us wouldn’t have you.” She felt his breath on her neck as he let out a chuckle.

“I already said I forgive you, no need to butter me up.” That made her laugh. Steven released her and put the picture back. 

“Ready to continue?” She nodded holding out her hand, instead of taking it though Steven opened his arm for her to grab onto. He showed her some more photos before he heard Pearl’s voice from downstairs.

“Steven? Are you back?” 

“Yeah! We’ll be down in a minute.” He felt Spinel’s grip tighten but gave her a smile to calm her. He led her down the stairs, he noticed she glanced up at his mom’s painting as they made their way down. Garnet was in the kitchen making teas and coffees for everyone and smiled at the two of them once they were in view. Pearl sat on the couch with Amethyst to her right, Greg to her left, and Connie on the floor with lil’ Steven in her lap. 

“Hey everybody.” They made their way to the ground floor. Everyone gave mixed looks at the two of them. Pearl looked leary, Amethyst seemed pissed, Greg unsure, Connie looked ready to unsheathe her sword and attack at the drop of a hat. Garnet however, was the only one to seem happy that Spinel was there which she fearlessly showed by coming closer to offer the gem a hug. Spinel honestly didn’t want to let go of Steven’s arm, she had threatened and even smashed a rock over Garnet’s head. Sure when they had both been rejuvenated they’s gotten along but what now? Steven pat her hand reassuringly.

“It’s okay Garnet’s not one to hold grudges. Not usually anyways.” Reluctantly she released Steven and let Garnet embrace her. What she felt from the fusion from just a simple gesture was almost as great as when Steven hugged or held her. Pure unconditional love and forgiveness. She could feel that Garnet held no intention of harming or hating her and all Spinel could think of doing to thank her was wrap her arms around the gem as much as she could without the risk of poofing her. 

"See I told you." He chuckled until he noticed everyone seem either taken aback by the scene or unsure of it. But he knew everyone respected and trusted Garnet’s judgement so if she could not only forgive the gem but embrace her with all of her love she gave to him and the others, than he had hope that everyone else would come around eventually. No time but the present to test out his theory.

“Okay everyone so Spinel here is going to be living with us… here… in the beach house… from now on.” He realized all too late he would soon regret saying that at the current moment. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Garnet saw what was coming but since she was currently wrapped in Spinel's arms she couldn't stop it. Instead she opted for giving Steven an apologetic look and lifting Spinel to carry her outside where it was safer. 

"S-steven?"

"It's alright Spinel. Stay with Garnet for a few minutes I'll be out soon and we can go." He smiled despite the dread he felt. Once she was out of earshot everyone, except his dad, began voicing their many concerns. Pearl was the first to start. 

"Steven I know you like to help gems in need but this is far too much. You should have let her go with the Diamonds."

"She didn't want to go." Steven rebutted. 

"Than you should tell her she can't stay here. There's no way of knowing if she'll attack you again." Connie added not looking his way. 

"And where would y'all like me to send her? Homeworld with the Diamonds? Like that won't make her feel abandoned again or would you prefer I do like mom and send her back to the garden?" He was getting a bit upset at this point. 

"Not to mention Garnet just welcomed her with open arms! If there was any future where she saw Spinel attacking me you think she'd do that?" Everyone went silent for a minute. 

"Dad? Amethyst? Is there anything you two would like to say about her?" His dad shook his head and held up his hands defensively. 

"Steven she's mental dude. She destroyed the town, screwed with all of us, hurt Greg and tried to literally drop you to your death. For once I gotta agree with Pearl. Even if Garnet trusts her, she's too unpredictable. Garnet has her limitations with her vision you know." Amethyst looked almost guilty for saying it. 

"What about Jasper?" Steven was hitting low now even he could realize it but there was no turning back now. 

"Haven't you and some of the Quartz been trying to give her some sort of rehab? So what? She gets a, what like a fourth chance, but we can't give Spinel a second?" If Amethyst could she would have turned red with embarrassment. 

"She's staying." Steven said in a very authoritative tone. 

"Steven please-" Pearl tried again which only furthered his annoyance so he interrupted.

"No! No more! I'm done. I don't care Pearl! She's staying!" He said with a raised voice turning on his heel leaving the conversation. He was done even if the others weren't and to emphasize his point he finished his thought as he walked out.

"I've made up my mind and that's final!" He slammed the door behind him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He walked down the stairs muttering to himself. Once his feet had reached the soft sands he looked around for Garnet and Spinel finding them down by one of the temple's hands. His anger seemed to melt away at the sight of Garnet and Spinel walking through the tide Garnet showing Spinel different shells and creatures that live in the waters. Spinel actually seemed to be having a good time, hard to believe she was just trying to kill everything barely an hour ago. He made his way over to them Garnet being the first to greet him. 

"Everything okay?" She asked and He smiled.

"Nope but it will be." Spinel stood and closed the short distance between them holding something in her hand. She held out her hands to show him wearing a cheerful smile.

"Look Steven isn't it cute?" She opened her hand to reveal a spiral shell. 

"Oh where'd he go?" She poked the shell, before Steven could stop her, causing the hermit crab inside to get frightened and reach out to pinch her thumb. She jerked her hands away in surprise almost dropping the crab but Steven caught and set it down. 

"You okay? Let me see." The pinch wasn't enough to poof her but still left a small welt on her thumb. Without a second thought Steven raised her hand to meet his lips giving the pinched spot a light kiss healing in seconds. Spinel was taken aback, then again she was beginning to realize everything Steven did would continue to surprise her because he was just so different to her. 

"There. Gotta be careful with earth life. Just about everything here is much more fragile than gems. Let me or Garnet introduce you first. Don't want you getting poofed or cracked." Spinel nodded turning towards Garnet to try and hide her blushing face. Steven may not have seen the dark fuschia that now covered her cheeks but Garnet sure did, not that she would mention it.

"Wanna stay here or go check out the town? We can see if anyone needs anything." Spinel knew that Steven wouldn't have a problem if she chose to stay there, but that it would make Steven happier if they went to the town. 

"We can go." She answered turning back to Steven to find him giving her a pleased smile and offering her his arm to hold. Which she gleefully accepted. Garnet joined them in the walk back towards the house only to find Connie on her way down the stairs. When she saw them, she offered an apologetic smile. 

"Hey. Where are you two off to?" She asked as Garnet walked past her patting her head as she did. 

"Into town. See if anyone needs anything." She hadn't noticed that Spinel was clamped to his arm at first but when she did it made her stomach wrench. However she didn't want Steven to be upset with her so she tried to hide how much it bothered her. 

"Mind walking me home as you do? It's getting late and I'm not sure where Lion went." 

"Sure. Want me to take the sword?" Connie handed over the sword which Steven slung over his unoccupied arm never making Spinel release. 

"Oh that's right! I guess you two never properly met. Spinel this is Connie Maheswaran. Connie, Spinel." Connie outstretched her hand for Spinel who just stared confused at it. 

"Spinel you're supposed to shake her hand. Its an earth thing, go on." Spinel’s pigtails perked up.

“Oh my bad.” She uncoiled one of her hands and grasped Connie’s hand.

“Didn’t know what you were doing. Nice to meet cha Connie Marshmallow.” Steven didn’t mean to let a soft snort out at the comment. He cleaned his throat when Connie shot him a look.

“Spinel it’s Maheswaran.” She blushed.

“Sorry Mah-Mash-um.”

“Connie is just fine.”

“Sorry your human names are… different than what I’m used to.” Connie gave her a small smile.

“It’s fine I get it.” Spinel rewrapped her arm around Steven’s and he started walking Connie keeping pace with them. They came to their first gap in the ground, Spinel let Steven go so he could help Connie over it. When Steven and Connie made it someone familiar called out for Steven. It was mayor Nana who was trying to make her way to them.

“Spinel can you reach over and help her get here more safely.” Spinel nodded and stretched out her arm hand expanding for the mayor to sit on. 

“Oh well thank you. Hello Steven, hello Connie, and you must be Spinel. Nice to meet you darling.” Spinel set the mayor down and normalized her hand rubbing the back of her head with it. 

“Nice to meet me? Well thank you, and I’m sorry about causing all this mess.” Mayor Nana didn’t seem to be very mad at her but Spinel really couldn’t read humans all that well.

“Nobody was hurt. Yes many buildings and homes were destroyed or damaged because of it but they can all be rebuilt. What makes a town a town is it’s people. I’m not saying I don’t hold you accountable for your actions but so long as the reason you are here now is to help fix all of this than I can think about forgiving you.” Spinel hoped she understood that right.

“I-I am. Thank you for the chance.” Steven couldn’t help the smile that covered his face at the moment. 

“Mayor Nana is there anything or one that needs help right now?” Steven asked.

“Right now everyone is just trying to gather some of their things they need for the night. Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot offered some spare Little Homeworld houses for anyone who wanted them, the others plan to stay in the shelter. Many of the other gems are helping with the gathering of things that us humans can’t get to. If you want to help with that, I’m sure it would be appreciated.” 

“Sure thing mayor. We’ll finish escorting Connie home and be right back to help.” Mayor Nana nodded and said her goodnights as she headed off in the other direction. 

“Be careful Mayor!” Steven yelled after her, she didn’t respond. But he knew she heard him.

“Good job Spinel.” Steven said giving her a proud smile.

“Garnet said that I need to make sure I say thank you when any of the humans say they’d forgive me or that they were not mad at me. Although that human, mayor Nana, spoke oddly.” 

“She has a decent accent, you get used to it the more you’re around her.” Connie nodded in agreement.

“She also told me I have to say I’m sorry to a lot of people.” 

“She’s not wrong of course but you do realize there will be some that won’t forgive you. Right?” Connie added hoping Steven wouldn’t think she was lecturing her. Spinel nodded pigtails hanging low.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to stay on earth. I want to fix my mistakes.” Steven gave her another proud smile placing a hand on her shoulder. Her pigtails perked up at his touch.

“Well the longer we stand here the later it’ll get before we can help.” Steven ended the conversation and started walking. 

“Why don’t you walk me back home and Spinel can start helping? That way more can get done sooner.” Spinel, without thinking, immediately grabbed Steven’s arm in fear of being left behind even with other people around. Steven didn’t react to her sudden grabbing.

“The other citizens don’t know her well yet, nor does she understand much about humans for her to help without accidently hurting them. It’s better if I’m there so everyone is on the same level.”

“Oh, right. Makes scenes.” Connie honestly was hoping for a few minutes alone with Steven, Pearl and Amethyst had asked her to talk to him more about Spinel. When she first asked Steven to walk her home that had been her main priority. Now she was starting to have mixed feelings about the overly clingy but seemingly nice gem. She was just trying to kill Connie’s best friend not long ago, but suddenly she seemed so remorseful and actually trying to make amends. Could gems be bipolar? She’d have to ask Pearl about that later. She fell in step with Steven’s. How Steven could manage to walk normally with Spinel holding his arm so close, was beyond her knowledge. They stopped a few more times on their way either to check on the welfare of the random towns folk or to get across another crack. Surprisingly, they made it to the Maheswaran household quicker than Connie had expected. Steven handed her the sword back.

“Steven can- can we talk? Alone?” She glanced at Spinel who seemed to tighten her grip at the word alone.

“Yeah sure just give me a second and I’ll come in.” Connie went inside reluctantly deciding to put away the sword while she waited.   
Outside Steven felt Spinel’s grip tightened both at the word alone and more after Connie had gone inside.

“ Spinel-”

“Please Steven I don’t want to be left.” Steven sighed.

“I’ll be right back. So I need you to stay out here, I have an idea so you don’t feel left alone though. I’ll need you to release my arm for just a moment so I can show you. Think you can?” Spinel looked at him curious and slowly uncoiled her arms as if worried he might try to run if she let go to fast. After he had his arm free he unzipped his jacket and pulled it off and offering it to her.

“Here. I swear I’m not going to leave you behind. So until I get back hold on to this for me and let it make you feel safe. Can you do that?” She really didn’t want him to leave but for some reason, unknown to her, she really, really wanted his jacket. Her pigtails were down but she nodded in agreement. Steven smiled and wrapped his jacket around her shoulders, it was about a size too big for her but she didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. The jacket was still warm from his body and smelled just like him so she wrapped it tightly around her. Once he was sure she was content and she wouldn’t break down he backed up. 

“Think you’ll be good for a few minutes?” Her pigtails were still low but she smiled and nodded. He still couldn’t help but kept an eye on her the whole way into the house, just to be safe. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Connie was sitting on her couch waiting for him when he entered. She had hoped he’d sit next to her like he usually did but instead he stood by the front window keeping Spinel in his line of view. 

“So what did you want to talk about?”

“I can’t even have a few minutes of your time or should I start calling it her time?” That got his attention and an unamused look. He looked out at Spinel one last time smiling slightly from something she did, before he finally walked away from the window and sat on the couch waiting for her to talk. 

“Steven, don’t you think she’s a bit clingy?” His answer was a raised eyebrow.

“I’m just worried, so is everyone else. She barely let go of your arm the entire way here and now you had to give her your jacket just so we could talk. Steven for goodness sake you yelled at Pearl. Did you know she cried after you left?” Steven looked ashamed.

“No I didn’t, I’ll talk to her when I get home.” 

“We all just want what’s best for you Steven.”

“Tell me something Connie. When is it I’m allowed to decide what’s best for me?” 

“What? Steven.” He stood up abruptly.

“It was one thing when I was thirteen and didn’t know how to summon my shield, or even when I was fourteen and couldn’t fuse with anyone but you. But It’s been two years since then. I helped stop the cluster, ended a thousand year war, ended the Diamond authority, rehabilitated the Diamonds, freed multiple gems and planet, saved the planet not just from Spinel, and heck even brought Lars back from the dead! So tell me when am I worthy enough to decide what I want to do, what I think is best for me?” Steven hadn’t meant for his voice to rise but he was getting really tired of being told what he could do. Connie stayed quiet just looking at Steven shocked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside Spinel could see Steven watching her through the window, she liked it, so she performed a little spin for him making sure not to lose his jacket. She couldn’t see if he had smiled from it but deep down she knew he must have. However when he suddenly walked away her pigtails fell and she couldn’t help but grab onto them in worry.

“Don’t be stupid Spinel. He swore he would be back.” She said to herself trying to calm down. 

“Besides I have his jacket. He can’t just leave this behind.” She let go of her hair to pull the warm organic jacket closed around her. She couldn’t understand how it was still so warm. 

Where all humans this warm? She wondered deciding to try and hum to herself to pass the time. The only song that came to mind was the last one Steven had sung to her about change so that’s what she hummed. That is until she could hear Steven’s voice through the door of the Connie human’s house. Was he yelling at her? That seemed odd. Spinel may not have known him for very long yet but she only really remembered him yelling at her when she had first reformed and it sounded more panicked than just angry. Which considering what she had done, she couldn’t blame him. She took a step closer to the house starting to feel worried.

“Stand very still.” An all too familiar feminine voice told her. 

“But Steven just asked me to stay out here. He never said I couldn’t move closer.” A painful honey sweet laugh erupted in her mind. It didn’t sound joyess like she remembered, it held a more mocking tone to it now.

“Silly little Spinel. Always playing losing game. You lost the last one we played. Do you really want to lose one with him too? He’ll be so disappointed.” 

“N-No! This isn’t a game. He never told me to stand still nor did he say this was a game. So just shut up.” The laugh echoed again.

“Not a game? Did you already forget who’s son he is? Of course it’s a game. So what are the rules again?” Spinel drew back the foot she had extended towards the house, her hands laced together and she answered the disembodied voice’s question.

“Stand very still and wait.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Connie stared up at Steven from her place on the couch. She was having some serious flashbacks to when they were Stevonnie lost on an unknown moon having that super weird dream memory thing. She- she was treating Steven like Pink. Like how Yellow and Blue used to treat her. 

“I’m… I’m sorry Steven.” He hadn’t expected for her to apologize for him yelling at her.

“Wait, why are you apologizing?” 

“Because your right.” He didn’t need to know the details on how she came to her conclusion.

“I’m supposed to be your best friend. We’re supposed to have each other’s backs. Make a good team as Stevonnie. That’s impossible to do if I doubt your judgement. But at the same time you’re supposed to trust mine too.” Steven let out a large sigh and collapsed in an adjacent to her chair.

“I- I do see it. Believe me I do. I know Spinel isn’t stable, she’s clingy, and has a lot of trauma that needs to be mended.” 

“Why is it your responsibility? And don’t say it’s because your mom caused all of her problems. Not all of your mom’s mistakes have to be yours to fix.” Steven put his face into his hands and let out a muffled yell of exhaustion. 

“You don’t think everyone has told me that about everything else I’ve had to fix? I know I don’t have to do it. I want to. Not because of my mom. Connie you didn’t see the garden. It was as creepy and depressing as an abandoned amusement park.” He rubbed his face before placing his hand on his gem and continuing. 

“All of the time I’ve been alive, I’ve had Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and my Dad. Later on I got you, than Lapis and Peridot, my uncle, the people of Beach City, Lion, Bismuth, The Diamonds and so many more. But never my mom. I could always go to her room and see the mom I’d wish for but it was never her. Then I found out, the her I thought I knew wasn’t even the real her. I had to learn about a whole new side of her by piecing things together. Eventually it’s led me to now. I have pretty much a complete picture of her now. Be that a good thing or a bad. She hurt everyone who loved her, whether she meant to or not. But it doesn’t matter because for all the hurt we all felt… the love she taught us helped us help each other. Spinel though…” Steven hadn’t noticed he’d started crying halfway through his rant but just continued. 

“She was left behind as garbage. A broken toy that reminded my mother of everything she hated about herself. Her silly playful nature that made the Diamonds laugh and treat her as a child. What’s worse is that Mom could have gone back at any time, she could have gone back. But even as the compassionate Rose Quartz she never did. Spinel didn’t have the support the rest of us eventually found. All she wants is to be a friend.” He stopped talking to wipe away tears and to catch his breath. Connie stood and walked over to him kneeling down to hug him but before she could say a word he started talking again.

“So what if she clingy, so what if she’s got six thousand years of baggage strapped to her.” He looked up at her making direct eye contact before his next statement. 

“I sure as hell don’t and neither does Garnet. So I’m saying this one last time. Spinel is staying. She will stay in my house... as my friend… and no one can change… my… Mind.” Connie blinked away the tears that had started to form at the corners of her eyes, swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled.

“Okay.” Steven looked at her for a minute.

“Okay?”

“Yep. I get it now at least I think I do. Steven you’re all about change it’s what makes you so strong. But if you feel so strongly that nobody, not even me, can change your mind on this… than the most logical next move for me is that I need to change. I trust you… and Garnet. So I’ve got your back. I’ll help however I can.” Steven threw himself forward almost tackling her to the ground in a huge hug. Connie laughed and returned the hug.

“Heck in no time Spinel is going to have more friends than she has the ability to hug.” They both laughed at Connie’s joke. After Steven excused himself to go wash his face. While he was gone Connie walked outside to find Spinel standing perfectly still with a very painful looking smile on her face and tears streaming down her cheeks. She quickly ran over to her.

“Spinel hey, hey it’s okay.” Spinel didn’t respond, not even a twitch.

“I’m going to get Steven.” She didn’t want the gem to leave her site so she just ran to the door and called for Steven who bolted from the bathroom. The site of Spinel was like someone doing the ice bucket challenge through his veins. He quickly engulfed her in an enormous hug, trying hard not to yell her name but having very little control over his volume due to his panicked state. All Connie could do was watch in horror.

“Spinel! Spinel! Come on please snap out of it.” Nothing. Suddenly the memory of them being in the garden when Spinel was going over her memories came to him.

“Spinel y- you’ve won the game. You win. No more standing still.” Spinel’s eyes blinked a few times and suddenly Steven was having all of the oxygen squeezed out of him as noodle arms wrapped around him like boa constrictors. Steven really didn’t want to have to do what he knew he’d have to but he could no longer breathe. He summoned his shield forcing apart Spinel’s killing hug. That seemed to wake her up the rest of the way.

“What? What happened?” She asked shaking her head. Steven landed on his hands and knees with Connie rubbing his back telling him to take slow breaths.   
Connie wanted to scream at Spinel but Steven’s hand on hers stopped her. He was a closer friend to Spinel he had to handle this.

“Steven why are you making those weird noises?” 

“You got a little too aggressive with your… um… victory hug.” That seemed to confuse the poor gem even further.

“Steven she could have killed you.” Connie said worried but making sure to keep her voice down.

“You gotta remember my mom was the one who was supposed to say that to her. Mom as a Diamond had a stronger form. That hug would have been nothing to her.” Connie nodded understanding his reasoning. 

“I hurt you?” Spinel started to shake. Steven finally got his breathing back under control and with Connie’s help stood.

“You were in some sort of trance. It’s not your fault. I’m not mad. But do you remember anything?” 

“You giving me your jacket. Seeing you watching me, spinning for you, yelling than… than…” Pink’s voice. She shook her head not telling him. 

“It’s okay. From now on, no leaving you alone. Connie do you want to say something to Spinel?” Connie nodded and let Steven stand on his own so she could approach Spinel. Spinel started to take a step back but the look Steven gave made her foot stop short. 

“I’m sorry Spinel. I admit I didn’t trust you. But after talking things through with Steven I hope…” She smiled and it was completely genuine. 

“I hope we can be friends.” She opened her arms. However Spinel didn’t return the hug.

“Friends with me?” Connie nodded and so did Steven in the background. With that Connie was engulfed in looping noodle arms. They weren’t constricting but tight enough for Connie to feel how much this simple gesture meant to Spinel. Spinel was the first to release from the hug worried she’d hurt the, non half gem, human girl. After they said their goodnights and Connie suggested they hang out soon, which both of the other full heartedly agreed. Before they could leave Spinel asked for one more hug from Connie who didn’t mind. Connie turned after hugging Steven giving him a small peck on the check, which made him blush slightly. Connie waved goodbye as Spinel and Steven headed back towards the town. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spinel held Steven’s jacket close since he hadn’t offered his arm for her. She figured he really was a little mad even if he said he wasn’t. As they made it back to town they found Sour Cream with Vidalia, Yellowtail, and Onion as they were trying to get over a gap to get to their house. Steven grabbed Spinel’s hand and rushed over to aid them. Spinel didn’t need to be told what was needed as she stretched her arms to make a bridge for all of them. Steven hopped over the gap catching Spinel as she joined him. 

“You guys okay?” The woman spoke as the guys got to work grabbing things from the house. Spinel remembered this place from when she’d been rejuvenated, all of the pictures of Amethyst were hard to forget. 

“Thank you Steven. We're fine. Who’s your friend? She’s cute.” Steven felt a small blush as he looked over at Spinel who was being distracted by Onion who was hanging off her arm as she laughed. 

“That’s Spinel. She’s… new to earth.” He glanced at the pink glowing poison and Vidalia knew what he was trying to say without saying it.

“Ah. Is she okay though?” Steven sighed. 

“She’s working on it. But she’s not dangerous.” Vidalia smiled.

“Spinel can you come here please.” Spinel looked over at the strange woman talking to her now and lowered her arm so the young boy could get off. She slowly made her way over to stand next to Steven.

“It’s nice to meet you dear. I’m Vidalia, that’s Yellowtail my husband, the tall one is my eldest son Sour Cream, and the little one that you were playing with is my little Onion.” 

“I’m sorry he just kinda grabbed my arm.” Vidalia put up her hand to stop Spinel from talking. 

“Sweetheart no need to apologize. You can play with Onion anytime, he usually doesn’t give you much of a choice anyways. I just wanted to welcome you to Beach City and ask if you’d be willing to come by once things getting more settled so that I can paint you?” Spinel looked both confused and surprised. 

“Paint? I thought you only painted Amethyst?”

“She did that one of mom in the house and of me and Garnet in my room.” Steven told her. 

“Yep, Amethyst is just one of my favorite models.” 

“Sure I’d love to have you paint me, sounds fun.” She smiled brightly. The two of them helped gather the rest of their necessities before they went on their way. As they continued they found Jamie, Harold, Kiki and Jenny and helped them get to the shelter safety. By the time they made it back to the house the moon was rising and Steven was beat. They walked in to find Amethyst chilling with Greg on the couch. 

“Hey Schtu-ball. Connie get home okay?”

“Yeah dad.” Steven took off his shoes and walked to the kitchen grabbing some mac and cheese and water. Spinel didn’t move from the door, she just stood there watching and holding onto the jacket. Amethyst kept eyeing her from her spot on the couch but was trying not to be obvious about it.The temple door suddenly opened and Garnet walked through.

“Oh Garnet perfect timing. I was hoping to grab a shower before bed but I don’t wanna leave her. Mind keeping her company?”

“Not at all. I’ll finish making the mac and cheese if you want too.” Garnet held out her arm gesturing for Spinel to come over which she did clinging to the fusion’s side happily. 

“I’m going to head out alright Schtu-ball?” Steven hugged his dad telling him to be careful and to have a goodnight. Then Steven headed up stairs to grab clothes before coming back down and walking over to where Spinel had taken a seat on the kitchen counter to watch Garnet cook. 

“I’ll be right in there.” he pointed to the bathroom door.

“You going to be okay?” Spinel nodded causing her pigtails to bounce.

“Alight.” Steven pat her head before heading towards the door. Spinel kicked her feet as she watched Garnet intently.

“Would you like to learn how to cook Spinel?” Garnet asked not looking up from her work.

“Why?” She asked tilting her head to watch as Garnet poured the noodles into the water. 

“Because Steven needs to eat so cooking is a good skill for a best friend of a human to have.” Amethyst scuffed as she stood up. Spinel looked over at her as she glared and went to the temple door to leave.

“Amethyst and Pearl don’t like me do they?” Spinel asked looking down at her hands that were covered by Steven’s jacket’s sleeves.

“It’ll be fine. They will come around.” Garnet pulled the pot off and strained it before finishing preparing the food, setting the bowl down before looking directly at Spinel even removing her visor to meet her eyes. 

“Look Spinel. You’re new, both of them tend to get nervous around new gems, especially when they appear and do things like you did.”

“But not you?”

“I can see differently than them. Normally yes I’d be on their side telling Steven not to trust you. However, not only do I not see anything bad happening from you being here I also see how Steven looks at you. He cares about you and has every intention of helping you. Just don’t make Steven do all the work okay. You have to make an effort too. Talk to him, don’t keep things bottled up, that will only make things turn out for the worst.” Spinel nodded relaxing some of the tension in her shoulders. The bathroom door opening startled her as Steven came out drying his hair now in his pajamas that were a dark pink with black trim. He sat down at the table and began to eat when he noticed Garnet putting her visor back on.

“What’d I miss?” Garnet just smiled and ruffled his hair as she walked by heading back to her room.

“If you need me Spinel just tap on the mini Ruby and Sapphire on the door here. Goodnight you two.” 

“Goodnight Garnet. Oh wait-” The door closed before he could catch her and he sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Spinel asked hopping off of the counter. 

“I was going to ask her to hang out with you for the night.” he said as he took in another mouthful. 

“I can’t stay with you?” Her hair went down and she hugged the jacket.

“It’s not that, it’s just that I'm going to be sleeping so I won’t be able to play. My body will still be there but I won’t be awake. Do you understand?” She made a thinker’s face before nodding.

“I think so. You’ll still be there though right?” Steven nodded finishing his dinner. 

“Than I’ll be okay.” 

“Maybe you could give it a try. I know gems don’t require sleep but Amethyst does it sometimes so it is possible for you to.” 

“Sure.” Steven smiled and held out his hand for her leading her up the stairs to his room. 

“Alright first why don’t you take off my jacket. I need to sew it later anyway.” Spinel was getting used to having the organic material around her but listened and handed it over. 

“I really like clothes.” She said as he took it.

“Do you think I can wear more?” Steven looked at her for a minute thinking over her question. 

“Well my jacket is one thing, cause it’s big on you. But with your shoulder… um pads it maybe difficult. A dress probably but I don’t think it would look right. But we can always try.” Spinel watched as Steven crawled onto the big rectangle thing he had called a bed pushing fabric away so he could cover himself.

“You can sleep in my bed until we can get you more situated.” He held up the fabric for Spinel who mimicked his movements of crawling under and laying down.

“Alright now the idea of sleep is pretty simple. All you have to do is close your eyes, relax, and try not to think.” he yawned and visibly relaxed. 

“If you can’t get the hang of it don’t feel bad, and if you get board you can go see Garnet. Is that okay?” Spinel nodded and watched as Steven closed his eyes. It didn’t take long before his breathing slowed and he was fast asleep, the stress of the day finally behind him. Spinel closed her eyes after another few minutes of watching his peaceful sleeping face. She liked how relaxed he looked and wanted to give it a try. She tried to match her unnecessary breathing to his life providing breathing finding the slow steady pace calming. Soon the gem was joining her new best friend in a peaceful nights rest.


	2. A New Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spinel gets a new style and Steven is having a hard time with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so first off I'm so sorry about the long hiatus. I got stuck by writer's block with this chapter but I hope the fact that this one is so long that it'll make up for it at lest a little. I might take a small break from this fic for a while it seems to be the most challenging for me but that doesn't mean I won't keep writing. Well anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Steven hadn’t expected to wake up to see Spinel’s sleeping face. If he was being honest he figured she would have gone to hang out with Garnet finding sleeping to be boring, like Pearl. He couldn’t help but smile, she was extremely cute when her usual guard was down and she was just at peace, hopefully he could get her to be like this outside of sleeping. Steven sat up and instantly regretted moving as multiple sharp pains racked his entire being and he let out an unintentional groan.

“Steven?” Spinel’s voice was laced with that sleepy tone as she raised half way up rubbing her eyes. 

“Morning Spinel. Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you.” As he turned to meet her gaze he winced which instantly cleared any and all of the sleepy residue Spinel felt as she bolted upright in fear. 

“Steven you’re hurt!” He shook his head trying to reassure and calm her. 

“No just sore. Must have slept funny is all. I’ll be fine once I get moving more. You hungry?” A stupid question to ask a gem he realised and decided not to wait for an answer. 

“Let’s head down I’m sure Pearl has already made breakfast.” He let out another small groan as he stood and stretched feeling his muscles relax some everytime something popped. He turned holding out his hand for her to which she stretched over the bed taking it with a smile.  
*Must be nice not to have bones.*  
He thought as her limbs returned to normal when she was by his side. They made their way down the stairs, hand in hand gaining a sour look from Pearl who was in the kitchen finishing Steven’s breakfast as he predicted.

“Good morning Steven. I made waffles.” She said completely ignoring Spinel’s presence. Spinel couldn’t help but feel a bit of nostalgia from Pearl’s actions towards her. Even back when Pink was around Pearl never seemed to like her much she didn’t know why nor did she care. 

“Thanks Pearl and hey I want to say I’m sorry for yelling yesterday. I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that.” Pearl smiled and gave Steven a hug causing him to let go of Spinel’s hand to return the hug. Spinel felt a small pain, like a needle pricking her hand when Steven released her but decided not to show it and just wait for their hug to be over. She couldn’t help but jump some when the temple door opened though, as Amethyst joined them in the room. 

“What up dudes?” Pearl released Steven from their hug and Steven did his handshake thing with Amethyst. Spinel still waited trying hard not to just grab his arm. After he was done he headed towards the counter that held his breakfast sitting to eat. Spinel stayed where she was feeling uneasy from the glares she received from both of the gems. 

“Spinel?” Spinel jolted straighter when Steven called her from his spot. She turned, her anxiety melting when she saw that he was waving her over to sit with him smiling. She quickly claimed the seat next to him almost making her stool fall from her quick actions. Steven caught her though sighing at her silliness. 

“You wanna try some of this?” He offered her a bite of his food to which Spinel just stared.

“You seemed to like donuts when you were…” He stopped not wanting to bring up the rejuvenator situation again. 

“Yesterday.” Spinel vaguely remembered a sweet round thing Steven had called a donut. So she shrugged and opened her mouth for Steven to give her the waffle thing. Damn why was he feeling flustered from just giving her food to try. Spinel pulled the food off of the metal stick and her eyes lit up, her face reddening. She chewed and swallowed letting out an excited squeal as soon as her mouth was free causing Steven to start laughing. 

“I take it you like it?” he asked through his laughter, she nodded excitedly licking her lips. Steven offered her another bite chuckling as she slowly chewed savoring the sweetness. He offered her another when that one was gone, however, she shook her head refusing the third bite.

“Garnet said you need to eat, you can’t do that if you keep giving it to me. I don’t need it.” Steven nodded taking his first bite of his breakfast.

“I’ll have to introduce you to some more yummy things later than.” 

“I’d like that.” she said leaning on the counter as Steven ate his breakfast with a smile. Pearl had left saying something about going into town or was it her room? Spinel wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing so long as she wasn’t glaring at her anymore. Amethyst was on the couch again, this time sitting with her feet up and her head hanging off the edge as she flipped through some sort of picture book. Steven stabbed the last bite off his plate tapping Spinel, who was daydreaming, with his free hand and held out the last bite offering it to her. 

“Here last bite.” Spinel shook her head but Steven insisted he was full so she obliged blushing and swaying her feet from the sweetness. Steven chuckled and took his plate to the sink washing off the syrup when Garnet walked in from outside carrying Lil’ Steven on her head. 

“Garnet good morning!” Spinel jumped up hugging the fusion who patted her head. 

“Someone’s having a good morning. Morning Steven.”

“Steven gave me waffles! They were soooooooooo good.” Steven and Garnet both chuckled.

“Mind watching her? I wanna get ready for the day.” Garnet gave him a thumbs up that Spinel mimicked. With that Steven disappeared upstairs, reappeared with clothes in his hands and again disappeared into the bathroom. Spinel stared at the door for a good minute before Garnet caught her attention. 

“So how’d you like sleeping?” She asked picking Lil’ Steven off of her head to hold and pet him. 

“I liked it, kinda wished I could have just done that all of those years.” She joked and cautiously reached out to mimic Garnet’s petting motion on Lil’ Steven who purred in response. 

“I don’t think Steven enjoyed it though he woke up all sore.” 

“Pff. Probably from all the fighting yesterday or from sleeping with you.” Amethyst said causing Spinel’s pigtails to drop.

“Amethyst.” Garnet said in a warning tone making Amethyst sigh and sit up to look at the gem who's feelings she had just hurt.

“What I mean is… He probably wasn’t too comfortable with those things poking him all night.” She pointed to Spinel’s shoulder pads.

“Really? Hmmm maybe I should change my form. Steven said they would make it hard for me to wear clothes when I asked him if I could.” Garnet placed a firm but loving hand on Spinel’s shoulder.

“Steven wouldn’t want you to change your form for him. Only change it if You want to. Not because of anyone else.” Spinel thought for a few seconds looking at both Amethyst and Garnet studying their forms. 

“Yeah I think a form change would be nice. Since everything else is changing, my home, my friends, my feelings maybe something different would be good. Besides, I kinda like the thought of wearing clothes like Steven and Connie. Some of the people I met last night were wearing really cool stuff. So maybe something a little more like you Amethyst.”

“Whatever.” Was Amethyst’s response as she stood and headed for the warp pad.

“Good luck with your new form, I’mma head to Little homeworld.” With that she teleported away. Garnet set Lil’ Steven down and walked with Spinel up to Steven’s room. They talked for a few minutes before Garnet let Spinel have some time to start her reforming, being sure to stay outside the door in case she was needed. Spinel wasn’t quite ready to go into her gem wanting to look around for some more ideas first. She looked at pictures Steven had of everyone, looked through some of his picture books, and even a magazine she found before sitting down on Steven’s bed now with a better picture in her mind.

“Alright Garnet I’m going into my gem see you soon.” She yelled out before poofing herself while sitting on the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steven was confused to find Garnet standing outside his bedroom door without Spinel.

“Um everything okay?” Garnet nodded.

“Spinel wanted to change her form, her gem is sitting on your bed while she finishes the design. Here I got these earlier today.” Garnet handed Steven a shopping bag not saying another word as she headed back down the stairs. Steven walked into his room to see Spinel’s inverted heart gem sitting on his bed just like Garnet had said. He set the bag down on his dresser and approached the helpless gem to lightly touch it's smooth surface. Her gem was so much bigger than the others, he’d noticed that yesterday but this was his first chance to really look at how different she was from the others. He picked her up examining the curves and flawless cut when she suddenly started to glow and float from his hands. He backed up giving her some space to reform watching with curiosity of what her new look would be. He watched as the basic glowing form expanded from her gem, the first thing to take full form were her feet where instead of her pointed shoes little toes wiggled and bear feet appeared. Her gloved hands did the same now sprouting long slender fingers, next her pigtails which stayed the same and finally her head and body. Steven stared at the newly formed gem before his hands shot up to cover his eyes as his face turned bright red. 

“Steven? What’s wrong?” Spinel’s voice sounded defensive, he knew he was being rude and she would want his opinion on her new look but he just couldn’t tear his hands away. 

“Spinel what… what made you choose that?” He asked his voice stuttering as he spoke. 

“Well I wanted something more comfortable and with the ability to wear clothes like you and Connie. So I looked around at all of your pictures.” 

“Okay? I mean… um oh stars. Spinel you didn’t want some sort of base clothing like Amethyst?” 

“I thought about it but couldn’t think of anything I liked other than some shorts. Oh then I found your picture book and they didn’t have base clothes, also this human seemed to like the others um… pillow things so I thought that would be nice too.” She held up the magazine she’d found under Steven’s bed. He glanced through his fingers blocking his view of her and to see this picture book she was talking about. If it was possible his face would have gone redder as he quickly snatched the magazine Steven had forgotten he had hidden under his mattress.

“How’d you find this?” He asked stuffing it in his drawer. 

“It was falling from your bed, I found it when I was looking around. Was I not supposed to find it?”

“No… Ugh My friend gave it to me as a joke for my birthday. I didn’t want to throw it away so I hid it. Must have fallen from us being in the bed.” *I’m going to kill Lars later.* He thought to himself. 

“So is my form not okay because I used that?” Steven sighed, he couldn’t tell her yes because it was her choice what she wanted to look like and it was his fault for not hiding the magazine better. He took a deep breath and fully looked at her now still as red as a tomato. She had her same hourglass figure but now her shorts looked more like underwear and she had a pair of, what Steven could only guess were, size C cup breasts with her inverted heart gem resting both between and a little under them. 

“You look very… um… look you perfect Spinel. But why don’t we get you some clothes?” Steven quickly grabbed the bag Garnet had given him finding that it did, thankfully, contain clothes. He pulled out a pair of plain overalls and converse shoes. She must not have predicted Spinel would make herself have breasts because the overalls were definitely not enough coverage so he grabbed one of his old, slightly smaller, red star shirts for her. He still couldn’t fully look at her, preferring to keep eye contact or look outside. 

“Here put these on.” Spinel took the clothes. She managed to put the shirt on easily the same with the pants but couldn’t figure out the clips for the overalls nor her shoes. Reluctantly Steven helped showing her how the clips worked and getting her shoes tied. She stood and walked over to the sliding glass door to admire her new reflection. Steven breathed an exasperated sigh and collapsed onto his bed once she was dressed and busy admiring herself. He had to admit now that he’d calmed down and got a good full look at her, she looked really cute. He noticed her tears scars were less pronounced only going down part of her cheeks. 

“Hey Spinel?” She didn’t look away from the glass but glanced at his reflection.

“Yes?”

“Why did you make your marks smaller?” he watched her lightly touch her marks looking a little sad making him wish he hadn’t asked. She turned smiling at him with her hand behind her back now instead.

“Because silly I made them when I was really sad. I’m not sad anymore but I still liked how they looked so I just made them smaller. You don’t like them?” Steven shook his head standing and walking over to take her hands into his.

“Spinel I know you care what I think about your new form but all that matters is that you like it. Do you like it?” She turned back to the reflective glass and smiled. 

“Yeah I really do.” Steven wrapped his arms around her waist resting his head on her shoulder giving her a smile. 

“Then so do I.” Spinel chuckled, turning in Stevens arms to give him a big hug. 

“Alright. Ready to start the day?” She nodded pulling away from his warm embrace to take his hand as they made their way down stairs to show off her new look. They found that Pearl had returned and she and Garnet were having a conversation that stopped the minute the two of them had entered the room. Pearl’s eyes grew huge when she saw Spinel, where as Garnet just smiled and shook her head in disbelief. Steven had a sneaking suspicion she really had seen at least one future where Spinel had decided to give herself breasts but probably didn’t think it would actually happen. 

“Very cute Spinel.” Garnet said placing a hand on Pearl before she could say anything. Spinel did an excited spin thanking her before Steven said they had to go. As they made their way down the stairs Steven could hear Pearl begin to complain to Garnet about Spinel, he just hurried them along. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about nine in the morning but the broken town was already bustling with both gems and humans getting to work on reconstruction. Bismuth was of course directing everyone on what needed to be cleared out.

“Bismuth! Where can you use us?” Steven asked leading Spinel up to the large blacksmith gem. Bismuth blinked a few times when she saw Spinel before she responded.

“Well right now we’re getting things into homes and buildings to protect them. Lapis is going to bring in some water flow to get rid of the poison safely. We’re setting up some metal sheets as walls to help prevent any splashing you two could help with that. Lars and his crew are by his place, try them. After it’s just a matter of fixing the cracks and rebuilding.” 

“Sounds good come one Spinel.” Steven began leading Spinel towards Lars' house. 

“Nice form Spinel.” Bismuth said under her breath as Spinel passed her, she gave the gem a wave as a thanks. Lars, Sadie, and the off colors were working on a wall section to cover Lars’ street when the two of them walked up.

“Hey everyone want a hand?” Steven asked grabbing a hammer from a tool box. Sadie greeted them with a warm smile.

“Love one. Think you can hold up this section so I can hammer it in?” Spinel stretched her hand to hold the wall with ease. 

“Oh cool that’s easier. Steven help me hammer we can get this street done in no time.” Spinel held two walls at once alongside the large multi fusion as the others did the hammering. When they finished they’d managed to wall off the crack going down the street on both sides completely. The whole thing took several hours by the time they’d finished it was already three so Lars went to check on his parents coming back out with drinks.

“Thanks for the help Steven and….” Lars took his first look at Spinel raising an eyebrow at her. 

“This is Spinel.” Steven told them as she waved taking one of the drinks Lars offered her. 

“Nice to meet you Spinel, I’m Sadie, that’s Lars, Fluorite, the twins,  
Rhodonite, and Padparadscha.” Sadie said taking a drink and a seat next to her. 

“I’m going to help Lars clean up. Will you be okay here Spinel? I’ll just be over there.” Spinel nodded as Sadie helped her open her can. Steven went with Lars using cleaning up as an excuse to get advice from his older guy friend. 

“Soooo since when do gems have…” Lars ran his hands over his chest making it obvious to Steven what he meant. 

“Oh yeah that reminds me.” Steven punched Lars’ arm making the boy yelp. 

“What was that for?” 

“She got the idea from that dang magazine you gave me.” Lars started to double over in laughter making Steven blush. 

“It’s not funny Lars. She reformed freaking naked! I didn’t know what to do so I freaked out and covered my eyes.” That only made Lars laugh even more, after he gained control of his breathing again he wiped a tear away and spoke.

“Dude, it’s not my fault you kept the thing, nor that she found it. Should have hidden it better.” 

“It was under my mattress, I’d forgotten about it.” 

“How’d she find it?”

“It must have fallen out because of us both being in the bed or something.” Lars stopped what he was doing to stare at Steven, eyes wide.

“Dude you messing with me?” Steven gave him a confused look, until his brain clicked and his face returned to the color of a tomato. 

“Not like that! We just slept. Stars get your head out of the gutter Lars.” Lars laughed.

“Why'd she sleep in your bed?” They’d finished picking up the tools but Steven really needed some guy talk right now. He looked over at Spinel who seemed to be having a good time with the others so he continued.

“I told her she could hang out with Garnet but she wanted to try sleeping and there’s only two places she could have slept. My bed or the couch and she had a panic attack, I guess you can call it, the last time I left her alone. So…” 

“A panic attack?” 

“Yeah my mom left her on a floating garden for six thousand years. Part of the reason she freaked out and caused all of this. So when I left her alone she… I don’t know, she went into a trance thinking she was back in the garden. I don’t know what it was but I’d rather her not do it again.”

“Six thousand years! Dude how old is she?” Lars looked over at the pink gem in disbelief.

“Lars come on you know gems don’t age. Not like us… well humans anyway. Think about Padparadscha she acts like what thirteen maybe but she’s probably like a few hundred.” 

“Yeah true.”

“Anyways back to the matter at hand, I don’t know what to do, especially now with her new form. I’m still figuring everything out for myself, now I’ve got to try and teach a gem too. I don’t think my heart can handle it. Sometimes I wish I could have gone to school, lest there they have classes on all of this stuff.” Lars laughed again. 

“Steven school doesn't teach you about that, at least not like they should. You just figure it out as you go or if you’re brave enough, look it up on the internet. Your best bet for her is to find her a human girlfriend who can tell her the things you're too chicken shit to tell her.” 

“I’m not scared! I just don’t know what to say that’ll make sense to her. At least the gems have my dad to more or less explain things but… ugh. What about Connie? Think she could do it.” Lars raised his eyebrow questioningly.

“Isn’t Connie like your girlfriend? You want her to explain to a gem why her having tits is causing you to freak out?” Steven blushed.

“No… I mean I don’t think we’re actually dating. We haven’t talked about it. But I guess that would be weird. Plus she had to go back to space camp.” Steven bit his cheek, Lars sighed.

“Geeze. Sadie! Can you come here!” Lars called out causing her to look at them before she stood and joined them. 

“What’s up?”

“Steven doesn’t know how to explain to Spinel why her showing up naked in his room made him freak out. He needs another human to help explain things to her to try to save him from any problems.” Sadie chuckled but not in a mocking way like Lars, more sympathetic.

“Don’t worry about it Steven I’ll talk to her. She’s super sweet, kind of acts like a little sister, I wouldn’t mind helping.” Steven blushed and dropped his head in embarrassment. 

“Sorry Sadie I really appreciate it.” A sudden siren caused them all to look up to where Lapis was flying. 

“Guess they’re ready to wash out.” Sadie said turning to head into the house with everyone. Spinel’s stretchy arms reached out and snaked around Steven’s arm springing her body close to his. Steven looked at Sadie and Lars with pleading eyes as her breasts were squished tightly to him. Lars just laughed hysterically until Sadie punched him giving Steven an apologetic look. Steven hoped Sadie could talk to Spinel soon, he wasn’t sure how long his heart could take this. They went inside where Mrs. Barriga had made them a late lunch, while they watched as the neon pink poison was washed out of the cracks and into a gem made container. The walls they had put up barely survived only leaving swiss cheese looking walls behind but they did their jobs. A second siren told them it was safe to go back out to start cleaning up the wall remains. Peridot came by every half hour to collect what had been taken down. The whole process took them another two hours before a final siren rang and Bismuth’s voice boomed over a loudspeaker.

“Hey everyone! Amazing work today, all of the walls and poison has been cleared out. Think that’s enough for today, if there are any humans that would like to start working on their homes or businesses and would like some help from any gems please come find me. We’d be happy to lend a hand.” Steven sighed, happy that the part he thought would be the hardest had been much simpler than expected. Steven and Spinel said their goodbyes to Lars and the off colors but before they could leave Sadie pulled Spinel off to the side.

“Hey so after some of the shops open back up Jenny and I were going to go shopping together. I know you said you wanted to get some more clothes so I figured we could make it, what we humans call it, a girls day. It’s when you hang out with your girl-friends. What do you say wanna join?” Spinel gave Sadie a huge smile.

“So we’re friends?” Sadie laughed.

“If you’re okay with having me as a friend.” Spinel nodded and hugged Sadie happily agreeing to go on the girls day with her. Steven smiled at Sadie saying thank you with his eyes as Spinel released Sadie and took hold of the hand Steven offered to her. Together they left the off colors, Lars and Sadie so Steven could show Spinel more of the town. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked all over Beach City, despite the damage, many people had opened their shops. Mainly Fish Stew Pizza, Beach City Fries, parts of Funland and the Big Donut, which Steven wasn’t even surprised by. They ran into Mr. Smiley who was getting help from some of the Quartz with fixing up Funland. Spinel got to meet Jenny and Steven filled her in on their Girl's Day plans getting another member which she looked forward too. Most everyone else they met along the way were much too busy to stop and talk, side from Onion who hung from Spinel’s arm for a short while before disappearing.

“How’s he do that?” Spinel asked when she noticed the extra weight on her arm had vanished.

“I’ve known the kid his whole life and I still have no clue. Best not to question it.” Steven said before getting interrupted by his stomach. He checked his phone, it was almost seven.

“Wanna head back to the house or would you rather grab something from Fish Stew?” Spinel honestly didn’t want to go back to the house, she didn’t want to deal with another glaring sesion from Amethyst and Pearl. 

“Fish Stew is where Jenny was right?” 

“Yep and her whole family.” 

“Can we go back there?” Steven nodded and led the way. Steven ordered something simple so they could split it. He couldn’t help laughing when he watched Spinel’s eyes light up at the sight of the stretchy cheese and then again at the actual taste. Mayor Nana joined them to discuss plans about the town with Steven for a while. When she left she made a comment about Spinel’s outfit reminding her of the twins when they were young gaining a smile from Spinel. This reminded Steven of something important. What was she going to wear until she and the girls could go shopping? 

“What’s up Steven? You look concerned about something.” Kiki asked as she brought them some refills.

“Just trying to figure out some clothing ideas for Spinel until she can get new stuff. She can’t keep wearing my old things, especially since none of my pants would fit her.” 

“Hmm… you know what you might be in luck. Wait here.” She disappeared for awhile but made it back just as they were about to leave holding a small garbage bag.

“They may be a little big for her but they should be better than nothing. They’re some of mine and Jenny’s that are too small for us anymore. We hadn’t gotten to take them to the good will before this all happened so if you want them they’re yours.” Steven gave her a wide smile and a small hug. 

“You guys are life savers.” Spinel thanked Kiki as she took the bag with a new look of wonder in her eyes. 

“Let’s head back home so you can get a look at some of those. Yeah?” Spinel still didn’t want to go back but agreed. As they walked past the Big Donut Spinel’s eyes lingered on the crater left by her injector and the guilt she felt was obvious on her face.

“Spinel? Hey come on don’t worry about it. You’re not the first gem to try and destroy the planet. I mean Peridot brought a whole hand ship here once.” 

“I know I just… I hate that I did it. Everyone is so nice and I almost killed them. Almost killed you. And now everyone has to do so much work because of me. Why don’t they all hate me? Why don’t you hate me?” She again looked like a wounded puppy with her pigtails hanging low and her eyes wet with tears that threatened to fall. So Steven didn’t stop himself from giving her hand a small pull causing her to drop the bag of clothes and fall into his embrace. 

“Everyone makes mistakes Spinel I told you that. Everyone here has done it at least once in their life so they get it. They see you making an effort to fix your mistake that makes them more willing to forgive faster.” Spinel blushed but returned the hug. She grabbed the bag and let him guide her the rest of the way past the crater and into the house. The house seemed empty but her hope for a quiet night with just her and Steven was diminished when the temple door lit up purple and Amethyst entered the room.

“Yo tell me there’s food in the bag.” Steven laughed at the purple gem’s silliness but Spinel got a little defencive at the thought of Amethyst wanting to eat her new clothes. 

“No sorry Amethyst Kiki gave Spinel some clothes. So no food.” Amethyst sighed and began rummaging through the fridge. Spinel was about to relax when the temple opened again and both Garnet and Pearl joined them. 

“Steven Welcome home.” Pearl greeted again shooting Spinel a small glare that seemed to go unnoticed by everyone except to its intended target. 

“I saw a future where Spinel got some clothes to try. Is that what’s in the bag?” Garnet asked taking a seat on the couch. Spinel nodded giving Garnet an excited smile causing her to chuckle. 

“Perfect then how about we hold a little fashion show?” Garnet offered gaining a confused look from Spinel but an excited one from Steven.

“That’s a great idea Garnet! Spinel won’t that be fun?” Spinel was still confused so Steven explained and once she had a grasp on the concept she excitedly agreed. They emptied the bag onto the table, causing Pearl to join them as she began holding the clothing into neat piles. Amethyst, now with some sort of weird sandwich, joined not wanting to be left out. Steven shuffled through the clothes with Spinel who really had no idea what she was looking for, until her eyes landed on something light blue. She reached for it and pulled it out of the pile to examine it, it was a long light blue (the same color as Steven’s shirt) dress. 

“Oh that’s a cute one. Spinel why don’t you go try it on?” Steven said as he continued to look through the outfits and help Pearl fold them. Spinel nodded and began to unfasten the overall’s clips before Garnet cleared her throat to get her attention and pointed at the bathroom. Spinel understood the silent command but not the reasoning behind it. She’d changed in front of Steven earlier why was it different now. But she wasn’t going to argue with Garnet and made a mental note to ask about it later. The dress thankfully wasn’t complicated and she got it on with ease but she was having trouble keeping the sleeves on her shoulders like she’d seen others wear. 

“Spinel you okay?” Steven asked.

“Yeah just… I don’t think it fits. The sleeves won’t stay up.” 

“Well come on out maybe we can see what we can do.” Spinel opened the door stepping out trying to hold the sleeves up. Steven chuckled and stood to help her. 

“These are called off the shoulder sleeves they’re meant to be like this.” Steven fixed the dress for her and took a step back so everyone could see. Steven couldn’t help the blush dusting his cheeks when he got a full view of her. Spinel stood there in a bohemian style layered blue dress that loosely fit her torso and fell off the shoulders so that it dipped low enough to see half of her gem and some cleavage, finishing off with the off the shoulder puffy long sleeves. Steven sat back down trying hard not to stare. Garnet smiled,

“Spinel why don’t you let your hair down.” Spinel nodded and morphed her pigtails lose to let her hair fall to her sides and back.

“That looks very pretty.” Garnet complimented. Steven, however, was finding most of his words not wanting to exit his mouth so he just nodded in agreement. Despite herself Pearl too told Spinel she looked very lovely while Amethyst agreed before being the one to pick out the next outfit. This time Spinel came out wearing ripped jeans and a loose fitting black tank top that read “Little bit of devil in these angel eyes.” In fushia and white writing. The pants didn’t quite fit so Amethyst suggested turning them into shorts and Pearl thought it wasn’t as flattering as the dress. The others agreed about the pants to shorts idea and thought she looked very cool. Pearl was the next to find an outfit she liked, a simple boho long light pink skirt with a simple white tank top. Garnet had found her a pair of puffy multi colored hammer looking pants with a blue t-shirt that said “In my defense I was left unsupervised.” which had everyone laughing and agreeing that shirt very much fit and looked good on her. Steven chose a simple pair of shorts and a yellow top but the yellow didn’t look quite right for her. They continued going through the clothes and finding outfits for Spinel to try. Steven was grateful that almost everything fit and that everyone was actually having a good time. The whole show took about an hour and a half, when they finished Spinel had at least ten new outfits she could wear that she was very happy about, and Pearl had managed to fold all of them. After putting the clothes in Steven’s room Pearl retired for the night. Spinel noticed she didn’t glare at her as she left and even said good night to her, this made Spinel very happy. Amethyst and Garnet decided to head to little homeworld. Amethyst had some gems she wanted to hang out with, while Garnet was going to go ask Bismuth to make Spinel a dresser for her new things. 

“Well that was fun.” Steven said as they headed up the stairs. Spinel smiled as she plopped down onto the bed.

“Very! I think I like fashion shows. Pearl didn’t even glare at me once during it. I think she’s starting to forgive me. Hopefully.” Steven nodded and chuckled as he grabbed a pair of pajamas since Spinel was in one of her new sets already he figured he’d change too. 

“Hey will you be okay if I go change in the bathroom?” Steven was uneasy about leaving her alone after yesterday but he hoped if he was quick she’d be okay.

“I’ll be fine.” She smiled reassuringly, so he made his way back down stairs. Spinel sat quietly on the bed for all of five seconds before deciding she was bored. She looked around the room for some sort of entertainment and remembered something which made her get up and begin to search for the object of her curiosity. Finding it stuffed in the top drawer she returned to her original seat on the bed and thumbed through the picture book. She didn’t know the proper names for the ways the humans in the book embraced and interacted with each other but she couldn’t help her fascination with it, especially because of how embarrassed Steven had gotten because of her finding it. When she could hear the sound of footsteps on the stairs she quickly hid the book inside of her gem. She thought the pictures were interesting and didn’t want Steven to take it away from her again before she could finish looking at it. Steven opened the door to find Spinel still sitting on his bed with no signs of being in any sort of trance. He sighed and mentaly wrote it down, short periods of time are okay, long not so much. 

“I grabbed some snacks. You wanna watch a movie?” Spinel wasn’t sure what a movie was but agreed anyways. As he was setting up the tv and his movie collection he got a very silly but fun idea. 

“Hey Spinel go downstairs and grab the pillows off the couch and blankets out of the closet. I’ve got an idea you are going to love.” Spinel nodded and raced down the stairs finding every blanket and pillow she could, returning with a small mountain in her arms. Spinel watched as Steven began to rearrange the items around on his floor, when he finished she had no idea what she was looking at. The blankets were strung across the space between his bed and the box he called a tv making an enclosure that wasn’t very big, while the pillows were laid inside all along the floor. 

“What is it?” She asked inspecting the floppy structure of the blanket walls and roof. 

“It’s a blanket fort. Amethyst and I used to make them when I was a kid. They kind of make you your own miniature world separated from the outside world. I don’t know, it seemed like a good idea. Now that it’s done it seems silly.” 

“I like silly though. How does it work?” She asked with an innocent smile which made Steven blush. He helped her crawl inside then turned off the room lights and crawled in next to her. He made his gem glow for light while Spinel picked out the first movie. Spinel held out the movie she chose and Steven couldn’t help but laugh, Scott Pilgrim vs the World. 

“Did you choose this because Ramona has pink hair?” Steven asked, pointing to the pink haired girl on the cover and making Spinel blush.

“Maybe. Plus the guy has a really cool fire sword!” Steven snorted out a laugh and wasted no time popping in the movie and letting his gem glow turn off. Despite the movie being one of his favorites Steven found himself watching Spinel more than the screen. 

“That game looks fun! What is it?” She asked when Scott and Knives were playing the ninja version of Dance Dance Revolution. 

“I don’t know that particular one but Funland Arcade has a game similar to it. We can play it sometime if you want.” Spinel nodded excitedly before returning her attention to the movie. Her next question caught him off guard.

“Steven what are they doing?” When Steven looked at the screen he felt his face heat up. Scott and Ramona were kissing with little hearts floating around them. 

“Um… they’re um… It’s called kissing. People do it with other people they love. Let’s just keep watching.” Spinel wanted more details but to Steven’s relief she returned her attention to the movie. She was hypnotised by the fight and started yelling at the screen rooting for Scott to win, before she started laughing at the music number.

“Why’d she change her hair! How’d she change her hair?” Steven laughed.

“Calm down humans do that all the time.” Spinel pouted,

“It looked betta pink.” Steven chuckled when she went back to cheering for Scott during the fight. 

“You know he can’t hear you right.” Spinel stuck her tongue out at him and continued cheering. But Steven’s favorite part was how hard she laughed at Scott jumping out of the window, she had to wipe tears away. She got all starry eyed when Ramona pulled out a hammer and again when Scott got the power of love. She clung to Steven when Scott died, causing Steven to laugh and hold her until she shouted with excitement when Scott came back and started kicking ass. She almost destroyed the fort when the final fight ended, Steven just laughed as he watched her excitement. When the credits started to roll she looked confused.

“What happened? Where did Scott and Ramona go?” 

“The movie’s over Spinel.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“A movie only shows a small portion of a story, usually the most important or exciting part. Then that’s it unless they make a sequel. But they haven't for this movie, though there are comics of it. Now we can watch another movie.” 

“Well that sucks. I liked them.” Steven chuckled choosing a movie and putting it in.

“We can rewatch it another time.” Spinel smiled at that and focused her attention on the new movie. Steven relaxed into their hord after a third movie was entered, the weight of the day starting to make him tired.

“If you’re sleepy Steven we can stop.” Spinel’s sudden concerned voice jared him from his half sleep state. However he smiled at her unintentionally disappointed look.  
We don’t have to stop. Even if I fall asleep. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to make the fort, I can sleep in it without the bed. So keep watching for as long as you like.” She beamed a bright smile at him and scooched closer to lean into him as they both got comfortable. Steven chuckled lifting his arm so she could use him as a pillow, he could handle this much. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At some point during the Princess Bride he found himself in the land of dreams. Spinel could only chuckle at the little snoring sounds he was making. She made sure to pull a blanket over him as another movie ended and she moved to change it again. A tape in a black box caught Spinel's curiosity. There was something written across it and although she hadn't learned how to write or read human english yet she'd seen this letter pattern before earlier and could at least recognize it as his name. She pushed it into the box and hit play. The credits and trailers she'd gotten used to seeing never appeared instead it was fuzzy for a few seconds before a sudden picture of the beach appeared. Then it cut and Spinel chuckled when Steven's dad walked across the picture weirdly before Spinel fell silent at the sudden sound of HER voice. She glanced back at Steven to see him still sleeping soundly, before she moved closer to the screen. An image of Greg sleeping with a creature on his stomach while she laughed saying he made a friend before he freaked out. Next another shot of him this time introducing himself. Every word spoken or chuckle from the camerawoman caused Spinel to subconsciously tug on her pigtails. A star animation changed the screen to show Greg sitting by the water while the camerawoman spoke directly to the viewer. Spinel felt tears stream down her cheeks as she listened but made no effort to wipe them away. Then suddenly she was looking at the stranger with the painfully familiar voice. 

“Steven we can’t both exist. I’m going to become half of you and I need you to know that every moment you love being yourself that’s me. Loving you and loving being you. Because you are going to be something extraordinary. You are going to be a human being.” Greg’s voice interrupted her but she finished.

Take care of them Steven.” The camera was set into the sand to show Rose walk over to join Greg. They both held her stomach before leaning in to kiss one another as the video cut out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steven was jared from his slumber by the sound of the tv static.  
*She must have fallen asleep.* He thought as he strained his eyes to look at the bright screen. However, the silhouette of Spinel sitting in the fetal position caused him to sit up, now a little confused.

“Spinel? Can’t decide on what to watch next?” Spinel didn’t turn to look at him and even tried to hide the sound of crying in her voice when she responded. 

“Y-Yeah. There’s just so m-many.” His sudden soft but firm grip on her shoulder told her, she’d failed at hiding her feelings.

“What’d you watch that’s got you crying?” He asked, ejecting the tape before she could stop him. She heard his sharp inhale of surprise at the sight of the all too familiar tape.

“I’m sorry Steven I-” 

“Hey now… No need for apologies. You did nothing wrong, I shouldn’t have left it with the others. Are you okay?” She sniffled once before the floodgates broke and Steven found himself wrapped in her looping embrace as she cried into his shoulder. He held her tightly letting her cry as much as she needed while he ran his fingers through her pigtails cooing reasuranly to her in an attempt to calm her. Her sobs began to subside after a good twenty to thirty minutes. She still held Steven tight but loosened her grip some, not wanting to hurt him.

“That was the first time really hearing her voice come from Rose’s form.” She sniffled out.

“Made it more real. Didn’t it?” She nodded trying to fight more tears that threatened to fall.

“Look Spinel…” He pushed her off of his shoulder enough to cup her face in his hands, wiping tears from her cheeks.

“I know I’m not her and I know nobody could replace what she was to you, let alone me. But so long as I’m around I’ll do everything within my power to keep a smile on your face.” Spinel gave a small chuckle and smile in response.

“Steven you’re right. You’re not her… You’re better.” Before Steven could respond to her compliment he felt her soft lips lightly press against his own. The sudden kiss only lasted a second but when Spinel pulled back away she found Stvene’s face now resembled that of a Ruby’s. Steven was completely at a loss for words, actions, or even thoughts at this point.

“Steven? Did- Did I not do that right?” Spinel asked, poking Steven’s cheek. He blinked, inside his head he was screaming in every language he knew.  
*Say something! Do something! Don’t just sit there!*

“Welp I think it’s time for bed.” He suddenly said, so Spinel started to unwrap herself from their hug, feeling very confused.  
*This isn’t what happened in the movies. Must of done it wrong.* Before she had fully let him go Steven tried to move so he could get back to his spot in the pillows. However, he was soon pulled back into her embrace once again feeling her lips meet his. This kiss felt different though, it was still just as nervous and new but there was less of an experimental feeling and more of a need. If Steven had to describe his brain function at the time he’d compare it to a TV shutting off. He acted on pure instinct rather than rational thought, as he fell into the feeling of her soft lips. He traced his hands up Spinel’s back and pulled her close returning the sweet kiss. He found himself lightly licking at her lips hoping she would grant him entrance and to his surprise she did, letting his tongue trace the inside of her mouth and pulling a soft moan from her. They continued making out until Steven began to find it hard to breath and he pulled away. Steven’s breath was slow and heavy as he tried to collect his thoughts. 

“Wowie.” Spinel chuckled licking her lips as if she had just eaten waffles again. Steven collapsed into the horde of pillows behind him with an exasperated sigh. Spinel smiled, turned off the TV, and proceeded to crawl up next to him cuddling into his side. 

“I think I like kissing Steven.” She said still smiling.

“Yeah…” He couldn’t think of much of a response right now, because half of his brain was yelling at him for doing that and the other half was somewhere on cloud nine. Spinel didn’t seem to mind the vague response as she pulled a blanket over them sat up and placed a small kiss on his lips.

“Sweet dreams Steven.” She said, laying back down into the horde while cuddling him before drifting off to sleep with a smile on her face. Steven glanced down at her sleeping form, she looked so happy when just seconds ago he was worried she’d have another panic attack. For now he would count this as a win, one that would be a hassle to work though tomorrow, but a win nerver-the-less. He let a small smile brush his features before he too fell fast asleep.


End file.
